


The Inklings of Space

by im_the_king_of_the_ocean



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Alternate Universe - Space Opera, Kidnapping, M/M, Mind Manipulation, Protective Martin Blackwood, Space Stations, Trauma, Worldbuilding, magnus archives but if it were star wars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28994313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean
Summary: Jon, an experimental android built to become a living archive, has never known life beyond the labs and facilities of the great city of Watcher’s Crown.  Then, as a test of his initiative, he’s sent to collect life experiences as a bookseller on Magnus Spaceport.All Jon wants is to complete his assignment as peacefully as possible before he’s inevitably recalled back home.  The chance for that is taken from him as events set in motion long before he gained awareness of them arrive and alter his life’s trajectory irrevocably.Suddenly adrift in the expanse of space with little to guide him, Jon learns there is perhaps more to life than simply enduring it.Also poetry isn’t always hogwash, but one thing at a time.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	The Inklings of Space

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this started as a requested trope mashup between a 'space au' and a 'bookseller au' over on tumblr, but I cannot be trusted with anything so now there's going to be a fic bc I haven't written a good space story in AGES.

Magnus Spaceport, one of three outpost stations situated on the perimeter of the Eye’s Beholden Star System, is rumored to be a testing ground for creations conceived by scientists in Watcher’s Crown, capital city of the Great Eye’s Domain.No one knows definitively, of course, if this is true, and there’s certainly no evidence easily found, but hushed whispers do follow any mention of Magnus around.More so even then its sister stations, Usher and Pu Songling.

Strange things happen on Magnus, people say.The hallways and corridors of the station shift like a tunneling maze.No matter where you go, you’ll always feel a prickling sensation of being watched, but by who or what, you can never know yourself.Sometimes, you’ll hear the gentle click of an antique tape recorder being turned on and feel the need to hush your voice even if there is no one around to hear you.

Most would avoid traveling through Magnus if given the chance, but, since passing a governmental inspection is required before one can continue on to Watcher’s Crown, it’s not much of a possibility.Usher and Pu Songling are located far enough from the main star ways that going to them to avoid Magnus could add hours onto an already long trip.Some choose to do so anyway.The majority steel themselves to endure visiting Magnus.

All in all, once one sets foot on the station, and starts to ignore the various peculiar feelings and sensations that come from being there, Magnus Spaceport is quite like any other space station of its kind.It has outer levels, where ships of any shape or size can dock and be examined, and inner floors, where travelers are invited to spend some time in shops and cafes before continuing on their journey.

Magnus’s shops and cafes, generally speaking, are the usual assortment that tend to cluster at space stations.There’s places for a quick bite to eat, for repairs, and a handful of hostels if one finds themselves needing to stay a bit longer.Dotting the station’s thoroughfares and tucked snuggly in between mundane establishments, though, are a few oddities found no place else in the galaxy.

Scattered about are stalls completely dedicated to keychains with eye designs.A joke, people laugh about in unconvincing voices, based on how the Great Eye’s Domain gained its name for being in a nebula uncannily shaped like an actual, human eye.

No one ever talks about what happens to those who dare to actually _buy_ a keychain.

Taking up most of an entire floor is a museum dedicated to rare and unusual historical artifacts from all over Panopticon, the planet Watcher’s Crown is situated on.Tours are available to any who’d like to learn more about the world at the center of the Great Eye’s Domain.

The preamble before every tour has an offhand disclaimer absolving the museum of fault if a visitor loses themselves and doesn’t find the way back out again.

Most peculiar of all, tucked in a corner of the station where it should be forgotten but never is, sits a little bookshop.

Of course, there’s a smattering of bookshops all across the galaxy.Despite the developments of modern technology, there remains a stubborn few who prefer physical-bound texts to the digital, and so such places remain in business.

What sets Magnus’s little bookshop apart from them is not its stacks and stacks of books squeezed into a tight space.Nor is it the resident centuries-old vibe, like the place has travelled back in time and chosen to stay put.It’s not even the eclectic, esoteric-leaning, subject material of the tomes available.

It’s the unusual man who runs the place.

With most of Magnus’s shopkeepers, the ones that aren’t fully automated and only guarded by surveillance cameras, one can get a feel for who they are.Which are the grumpy ones.The observant ones.The kind ones, _those_ tend not to last very long.

The Bookseller is a man most look at and wonder what exactly it is they’re looking at.He appears normal enough, with dark brown hair tied back in a semi-messy bun, a pair of golden-rimmed reading glasses perched on his nose, and a neat vest over a tidy button-up.At the same time, there’s something _off_ about him.No one can quite place what it is, but they recognize it.On a subconscious level, they know the Bookseller isn’t quite like them. 

They also know they’re not supposed to notice, but they do.

In the same way they’re not supposed to notice a man in an old-fashioned purple suit who arrives, every week, from Panopticon, to visit the Bookseller.

Their conversations, which certainly no one pays attention to out of ill-placed curiosity, usually go something like this:

“Hello, Jon,” the visiting man greets the Bookseller.

“Elias.”

“There’s no need for that tone.I simply wish to inquire as to how you’ve been getting on.”

“Fine since last week.”

“Good.”

Then, Jon the Bookseller is left to his books, which suits him just fine.They’re all the company he needs.

Really.They are.

Bringing the crates of new shipments in, unloading, and cataloguing them is a familiar routine.Flipping through any whose title or author he doesn’t recognize is a welcome distraction.Losing himself in the rare ones that manage to catch his interest is a treat.

What else could he possibly need?

If anyone ever asked Jon, he’d say he’s just a man, a tired man, who wants to sell books and endure as peaceful an existence as he can.He doesn’t take it personally that they never do, the ones that manage to not flee long enough to make a purchase. 

Jon certainly doesn’t _wonder_ what it would be like to hold a longer conversation with someone, _anyone_ , who isn’t Elias.He _doesn’t_.

Time passes.Something happens somewhere.Maybe Jon will catch snippets of conversations other people have as they hurry by and get to know a little more about what’s happening elsewhere on the space station.Most of the time, he doesn’t.

Then, one day, Peter Lukas’s ship, the _Tundra_ , docks, and things take an interesting turn for Jon the Bookseller.


End file.
